1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peak-to-peak voltage measurement of AC waveforms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacturers often test both their electronic systems and their components prior to shipping the electronic systems to customers. Electronic systems and components are also tested during rework and repair. Electrical testing is typically performed with digital and/or analog logic devices.
Logic devices, inherently, have a limited switching speed based on dielectric material, internal resistance, capacitance, and inductance. Semiconductor designers have focused on improving power dissipation and propagation delay. Power dissipation refers to the power consumed by a logic device when it operates. Propagation delay refers to the average time it takes a logic device to provide an output after receiving an input signal.
As demand for faster switching speeds has grown, semiconductor technology has progressed. For example, traditional Diode Logic, Resistor-Transistor Logic, and Diode-Transistor Logic have been replaced by common Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL). TTL technology has been widely used for approximately 20 years as a building block for logic circuitry. Schottky, Low-power Schottky, Advanced Schottky, and Advanced Low-power Schottky family TTL devices typically exhibit propagation delay of 3, 9, 1.5, and 4 ns respectively and power dissipation of 18, 2, 10, and 1 mW per gate, respectively. For today's highest speed applications, designers use Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL), which typically exhibits characteristics of 0.5–2 ns propagation delay, and 25 mW power dissipation per gate.